Just thought I'd mention that Bill D built the case the zither is resting in. It's as beautiful as the zither and was my Valentine's Day present in Feb 1991. I picked the lining fabric because it had a rose that matched the one on the zither. The whole case is padded and there's room for picks, tuning wrench, playlists, etc in the two compartments on the right.

My nickname for the handle of the case is "The Knuckle Buster." Usually I wear gloves to carry it. But the whole family looked at a bunch of handles and picked that one unanimously because the baroque look was worth the inconvenience (At least that's what we thought *then*.)